Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. ~ Virginia Woolf

BTT: Blurbage.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately: “What words/phrases in a blurb make a book irresistible? What words/phrases will make you put the book back down immediately?”

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

Oh! Oh! Teacher, pick me!

So this has been a long standing joke in my family and most of my friends are aware of it, too, but a book gets exactly one “plethora” and then it’s over. It’s just an ugly word and there are so many more attractive forms of “a lot”. My favorite (and I’ll actually swoon) is “myriad”. It’s just so pretty and sparkly. Plethora, meanwhile, sounds like you’re killing a duck.

Ok, the shallow stuff is over. In terms of actual content, I’m not a huge fan of monsters. Such as, you will have to do a bit of leg work to convince me to pick up vampires, werewolves, dragons, zombies, the like.

I also hate to wax political, as I’d like to keep my, ahem, myriad, fan base, but I won’t pick up anything that is overly religious or conservative. I’m not a big fan of, but will still read if it’s high recomended, “family drama” or “coming of age” stories.

I love a good political allegory and anything that mentions a “jazz-age style” or “Kafkaesque” will generally, be picked up. Of course, blurbs can burn, folks, so I don’t always judge a book by its cover, even its back one.

LOL never really thought about certain blurb words before, and certainly haven’t thought of myriad and plethora. Plethora is definitely a bit much, and would be a buzz killer for the book in my opinion.

I don’t know about words in blurbs necessarily, but I once had a critique group partner who hated the word GINGERLY. She crossed it out of everyone’s manuscripts. Now whenever I hear it, especially on an audiobook, I laugh. I NEVER use GINGERLY. 🙂